• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Deneki Outdoors Fishing Lodges

Alaska | The Bahamas | Chile

  • About Deneki Outdoors
  • Our Fishing Lodges
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
  • Deneki Blog
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Chile
    • Fish
    • Fishing Reports
    • Fly Tying
    • Gear
    • General
    • Guest Posts
    • News
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
    • Tips
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs

Dec 05 2015

Orange Crush Clouser – Tying Instructions

How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser Bonefish Fly.
Crush is right.. Photos: Kyle Shea.

This season we were joined by our good friend and long time Deneki guest, Frank Carlton, at Andros South. He introduced us to one of his favorite bonefish flies, a pattern he referred to as the ‘Orange Crush.’

Knowing how long he’s fished in the Bahamas, we spun a few up and wouldn’t you know, they work! A glorified ‘clouser style’ pattern, the Orange Crush features just about everything we like in our bonefish flies – a large profile, bead chain eyes, and plenty of orange. If you’re thinking about fishing on South Andros, you’re going to want a few of these in your box.. Here’s how to tie them.

Orange Crush Clouser – Tying Instructions

Materials:

  • Hook: TMC 811s, Sizes 2-6.
  • Thread: UTC 140 Denier, White AND Fire Orange.
  • Eyes: Medium Silver Beadchain Eyes.
  • Tail/Body: White Bucktail.
  • Flash: Pearl Krystal Flash.
  • Under Wing: Tan Bucktail.
  • Over Wing: Fluorescent Orange Arctic Fox.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 1: Starting with white thread, start your thread at the eye of the hook and wrap 1/3 of the way down the shank. Tie in beadchain eyes at this point using figure eight wraps of thread.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 2: Prepare a small clump of white bucktail approximately two times the length of the shank. Trim the butt ends square for a tidy tie in point.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 3: Catch in the bucktail in front of the eyes. Pull the bucktail back tight, and advance the thread to just behind the eyes.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 4: Cover the bucktail with turns of thread to create a body along the shank of the hook. Use your thumb and forefinger of your left hand to pinch the clump of bucktail together on top of the shank of the hook while wrapping. This will keep the hair from spinning around the shank, keeping it on top of the shank as seen in the photo above.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 5: Cover the body with touching turns of thread to create a smooth body, advance the thread to the eye of the hook, whip finish, and trim.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 6: Turn the hook over in the vise and attach orange thread at the eye of the hook. Cover the head of the fly with touching turns of orange thread to in front of the eyes so that no white thread can be seen at the head of the fly.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 7: Catch in a few strands of pearl Krystal Flash. Here, we doubled over two strands making four strands total. Trim slightly longer than bucktail.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 8: Catch in a clump of Tan bucktail in front of the eyes, approximately the same size and length as the white bucktail.
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser bonefish fly.
Step 8: Catch in an over wing of orange in front of the eyes. Traditionally, this pattern was tied with orange bucktail, however we substituted fluorescent orange arctic fox fur for added movement, which we’ve found to work really well!
How to tie the Orange Crush Clouser Bonefish Fly.
Step 9: Create a clean head, whip finish, and cement.

More Step by Step Fly Tying Posts

  • The Spawning Mantis Shrimp – Tying Instructions
  • The Hoh Bo Spey – Tying Instructions
  • Mr. Hankey – Tying Instructions

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Doug Jett says

    December 10, 2015 at 5:15 am

    Gotta be good – Tennessee Orange & White – truly a volunteer fly!

  2. Kyle Shea says

    December 10, 2015 at 10:16 am

    You bet Doug! Looks like you’ll have to give them a try. Hope all is well!

  3. Pat Dougherty says

    December 10, 2015 at 11:33 am

    where do you get fluorescent orange fox

  4. pip Bevan says

    December 10, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    should be a killer for Oz Flathead

  5. Kyle Shea says

    December 11, 2015 at 9:19 am

    Hey Pat, Arctic Fox is has become a pretty popular material for salmon and steelhead patterns especially, so most well stocked fly shops would be a good bet. However, here’s a good source online, just click here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Plan Your Trip

Let our experts plan the fishing adventure of your dreams.
Contact Now

Search Topics

Subscribe to our newsletter

All Blog Posts

Recent Posts

  • Spey Clave: Two Hand Alaska Presented By Mossy’s Fly Shop
  • Learn the Art of the Cack-handed Spey Cast
  • Common Mistakes Fly Anglers Make When Targeting Alaska Sockeye Salmon-and How to Fix Them
  • Fly Tying: Sockeye Caviar
  • The Alaska Freshwater Fish-Tastic Final Four

All About Spey

All About Trout

All About Bonefishing

All About Gear

Best Posts

Footer

Deneki Outdoors

Mailing address:
200 W. 34th Ave.
#1170
Anchorage, AK 99503

Headquarters:
6160 Carl Brady Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99502

US Information and Reservations
800-344-3628

International Information and Reservations
+1 907-563-9788

Email: info@deneki.com

Our Lodges

Rapids Camp
King Salmon, Alaska

Alaska West
Kanektok River, Alaska

Andros South
South Andros Island, The Bahamas

Rio Salvaje
Puerto Montt, Chile

Deneki Outdoors thanks Peter Viau, Tosh Brown, Abe Blair, Kyle Shea and Kara Knight for the beautiful photography used on our sites.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

#denekioutdoors

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 · Deneki Outdoors · Privacy Policy · Site by 21 Designs

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we assume that you are okay with it.Ok